Communication for Development and Social Change

Contents: List of abbreviations. Introduction/Jan Servaes. I. Introduction: 1. Communication and the persistence of poverty: the need for a return to basics/Pradip Thomas. 2. Hybrid interactions: human rights and development in a cultural perspective/Jan Servaes and Chris Varschooten. 3. Media globalization through localization/Jan Servaes and Rico Lie. 4. Vertical minds versus horizontal cultures: an overview of participatory process and experiences/Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron. II. The theoretical underpinnings of development communication: 5. The Panoptic view: a discourse approach to communication and development/Sujatha Sosale. 6. Threads of development communication/Royal D. Colle. 7. Development communication approaches in an international perspective/Jan Servaes and Patchanee Malikhao. 8. Tracing the history of participatory communication approaches to development: a critical appraisal/Robert Huesca. III. Communication policies, strategies and exemplars: 9. Communication for development approaches of some governmental and non-governmental agencies/Jan Servaes. 10. UNESCO's contributions to cultural diversity and communication for development. 11. Making a difference through development communication: some evidence-based results from FAO field projects/Gary Coldevin. 12. Involving people, evolving behaviour: the UNICEF experience/Neill McKee, Erma Manoncourt, Chin Saik Yoon and Rachel Carnegie. IV. Special case: HIV/AIDS Campaigns: 13. Rural HIV/AIDS communication/intervention: from using models to using frameworks and common principles/Rico Lie. 14. Religion and HIV/AIDS prevention in Thailand/Patchanee Malikhao. 15. Fighting AIDS with edutainment: building on the Soul City experience in South Africa/Thomas Tufte. V. More completely added: community media and conflict resolution: 16. Making community media work: community media identities and their articulation in an Antwerp Neighbourhood Development Project/Nico Carpentier, Rico Lie and Jan Servaes. 17. Working with media in areas affected by Ethno-Political Conflict/Georgios Terzis and Myria Vassiliadou. Conclusion/Jan Servaes. Bibliography and select readings. About the editor and contributors. Index.

"This volume is first and foremost about people and the processes needed to facilitate sharing of knowledge in order to achieve sustainable developmental change. It underlines that development communication is based on dialogue, which is necessary to promote people's participation.

The volume follows the two-way horizontal model and increasingly makes use of many-to-many forms of communication to facilitate the understanding of people's perceptions, priorities and knowledge with its use of a number of tools, techniques, media, and methods. It aims to give voice to those most affected by the development issue (s) at stake, allowing them to participate directly in defining and implementing solutions and identifying development directions.

Based on the assumption that authentic participation directly addresses power and its distribution in society, which often decreases the advantage of certain elite groups, the authors argue that structural and sustainable change necessitates the redistribution of power.

Communication is an essential element of every development and social change project, and it needs to be applied in different ways and at distinct levels according to the needs and characteristics of the context or community.

This collection offers perceptive insights and vivid examples to prove that the field of communication for development and social change is indeed vibrant." (jacket)